Suzi Edwards

Gary, I *really* want to eat there now. Thank you! Now I'm not being a shallow southerner here (i'm actually from the midlands) but what else is there to do in leeds? Other than shop in harvey nicks ;-) I tend to go abroad for weekends as, well, it's a bit different to my usual haunts. I tend to prefer something that's really different to London (polite shop assistants, air you can breathe, paying less than 5GBP for a pint etc etc) What would you suggest as a good Leeds weekend plan? I hate walking. So no countryside pursuits :-)

my recs might be a bit out of date, we went 12 months ago, but we had a great meal at the savoy cabbage (so good i bought the cookbook) and some really good sushi at a place called wakame at mouille point further afield, the quater francaise in franchoek was amazing, both the food and the room, and it was many times better than the monneux restaurant in the same town that people seemed to rave about. we stayed at the table bay hotel, which was fab and i would really recommend it. have a great trip

if you get there and it's closed, there's a peruvian place next to london bridge station. it's called titos and it's at 4-6 london bridge street. it's been very quiet when i have been there, but they do a good pisco sour and cerviche. given i wouldn't know authentic peruvian food if paddington bear himself served it to me, don't blame me if it isn't, but i've had a couple of nice meals there.

i think you're right, we all have coffee now so the dunking has stopped. i was reading an article recently and it suggested that vienoisserie (coffee and cakes for those who aren't used to my spelling) is the new tea.

i really couldn't resist and despite being pretty jet lagged, i ate the tasting menu at moto on monday. the restaurant is pretty stark, no art on the walls to intrigue me or keep me from the powerpoint presentation i was writing :-) i like to eat the tasting menu when i first go to a restaurant but i really wasn't sure I'd be up to it, but i thought of egullet and bit the bullet. i decided against the paired wines and instead had a couple of glasses of herbert beaufort bouzy grand cru champagne, which was fantastic and saw me through the meal very well. i think the menu i left with was slightly different to the meal i ate, but i'm happy with that as it means you're eating food that's evolving while you're in the restaurant. this is especially important with the food at moto. having met homaro afterwards it's clear that he's having a blast and i'm really glad that i've eaten here at the beginning of the resturant's life as he is capable of producing some stellar food. the menu is reproduced almost in full here in bold, i havn't commented on all of the dishes. two things to start that weren't on the menu, toro with caviar and a "palate cleanser" didn't do what it said on the box. two pipettes, one with chili and eucalyptus, the other with cilantro and scallions (i think). this seems to be a new preparation for them and chef showed me after how they're going to change the presentation slightly so the oil isn't at the bottom of the pipette as all i really got was an oily mouthful. not a auspicious start...but it got much better. raw "smoked" watermelon soup & virtual smoke saw a motorised smoke box placed on the table what wafted some applechip smoke over the plate of watermelon soup with a creamy and zingy mango puree. the presentation of this dish reminded of a wylie dufresne dish i ate last year. fennel phase one salmon, hamachi and black young coconut soda peeky toe crab and caramelised burdock a very simple preparation of almost soupy crab just sauteed and served with a whole soft shell crab to garnish. caramelised cucumber sorbet and soup this was the first really amazing thing for me. the cucumber sorbet had been encased in a sugar "window" that shattered as you ate. the cucumber flavour in the soup and sorbet was killer, this would have been a better palate cleanser. a duck roll pulled apart this upped the wow factor even more. in fact, i was excited when i was pulling the wonton apart that i managed to spill it all down my white tshirt. undeterred i poured the rest of the sweetly soyish sauce over the pile of confit duck, sliced duck breast and duck skin. it's a study of what you can do with duck and each flavour and texture really sang out. stunning. citrus and togarashi again, great. nightscotsman said everything i want to say about this. four story hill veal with beans and rice the veal was small nugget cooked sous vide and served with a veal consomme. in a separate dish was some puffed rice and beans. bass baked tableside with live sawagani river crab my crab was served with another dish (i think) but that didn;t matter. this was the stand out dish of the night for me. this is probably the most delicious fish dish i've eve eaten in a restaurant. it was so perfectly steamed with japanese stype aromatics, the texture and flavour so subtle but the dusting of pepper (i think) made a great counterpoint. who says this molecular gastronomy is all about complex preparations and flavours? wood poached pork belly with curry very tender pork and a really subtle curry sauce but it was slightly lost on me as i was starting to get very full at this point. juniper and gin didn't work for me, it was served as a drink. too herbal. prime beef, trumpet royale mushrooms and a beer head way too much for me at this point but the beef was charred and cooked very rare and was very good. fennel phase two parsnips, beets, sweet potatoes and branch water in the words of simon cowell "not for me" saffron and cardamom but this one was. i believe it was a saffron icecream floated in a beautifully small bubbled soda. delish. chocolate rice pudding made your way i'm a huge fan of chocolate and the milk chocolate sauce was so creamy and chocolately. and the homemade marshmallows. OHMYGOD. i kind of ignored the rice. i really had to stop myself licking the bowl. i had a quick kitchen tour at this point and then a rushed final desert, not on my menu, while i signed the bill and ran to my waiting cab. this final treat had some white truffle icecream that mobyp should cross the atlantic for :-) i didn't get to try the moto to go as i left it in my hotel room, along with my laptop and pursue :-( but still, i can't wait to go back.

i tipped up here about four weeks ago at 6:20, fought my way through the packed bar and was told they were full for at least the next three hours and were not taking more bookings that night. the waiter helpfully told me that i could eat in the bar "if you can find a space" but given i'd already had contact with one male groin too many, i thanked him and i left. outside i comiserated with a woman who too hadn't got a table and who had had a lovely cigarette burn in her coat. now i take the point that no booking might be a good way to differentiate between a restaurant and a gastro pub (i'd actually argue that a lungful of someone else's cigarette smoke is *usually* the differentiator) but i think that the a&h's management are being slightly disingenuous here. the place looks packed. so people think it must be great. however, if they keep turning people away they might find themselves a lot less busy after the intial buzz has died down. i will not be going until they impliment a booking policy. (god, am still surprisingly grumpy about this, am going to have some roast chicken to cheer myself up)

They used to say that you knew you were getting old when the policemen looked young. Now it's the chefs :-)

actually, moto and trio in chicago offer a fat duck-esque experience. st john is the one thing you really won't get, it's not fine dining, but it's well worth it in my book.

Hello Hello. I've been browsing the board and I am so excited about my upcoming work trip to Bangalore. Reading your posts is making my tummy rumble and I am sure I am going to have some great food. I've started compiling a list of things and places to eat, but I was wondering if you could take a few moments to recommend places to me. I'm especially keen to hear what I really shouldn't miss and to try things that I wouldn't get elsewhere (or things that are just best in Bangalore) Also, any suggestions about non related food stuf in Bangalore would also be nice! Thank you in advance.

did anyone tape this, and if they did, could i borrow it? pm me please. god, you leave the country for two weeks and miss great burgers, great tv and a random poster with an axe to grind. grrrr.

out of interest, do people put their cheeses in the hold, or carry on as hand luggage? i really want to take some home made truffles to the us next time i go but i worry about the best way to get them there.

there's nothing like a blanket generalisation is there?

noooooooooooooooooooooo. weeps uncontrollably.

this thread is one of the reasons why i love egullet :-)

yes yes yes! i'll email you to sort a date.

doesn't he guarentee that if you eat there more than once you will never get the same dish twice? that said, i didn't have a huge amount of dishes i would want to eat twice.

I can report that Waterland on Upper Street serves some horrible food under the guise of being "sichuan" Maybe we need to widen this thread a bit. I am constantly disappointed by Chinese food. I always have high hopes and they end up being drowned in a sea of black bean sauce. The only place i like is Hakksan. I know I need to go to Hunan, but really, where else serves really good chinese food?

no, not at all. it's just like when i find a desert i like and i have to have it all the time...whenever i see you i make you tell me about spaghetti written in curried mayonaise. even typing it makes me smile.

i love that review. i really have to go now. don't think i can put this off for much longer.

i'm still kind of detoxing, but i have been so ill for the past week that it's more by luck than design. that said, i feel amazing post detox, clear skin, lost a few pounds, lots of energy. it's just a shame that i have a chest infection :-( anyway, fat duck on the weekend, so the detox will be over then :-) tell me about this article... sorry andy, all of this is completely off topic

the belazu website is quite interesting. they've set up a school in morocco to give something back to the local community. so, taking what they say at face value, they seem to be jolly good ethical types. which we like.

i'm so glad we've got a thread about this place. andy's been keeping me amused with stories of it at each burger club.

could you add the drill for booking to the factual stuff please? might be really useful.

moby, i am so ill at the moment (as you know) but reading your report has made me want to go eat there this evening. thank you :-)

what do people make of the belazu range? i like their preserved lemons and they do some nice dry black olives. anything else good from them? does anyone know any more about the brand? i might go and google them.